NewLife-CTeam Our last day flew by with lots of touring and shopping - we are exhausted but had some important visitors come by and talk to us about the current affairs here. The persecution seems to be less intense in the big city if you are smart, keep things small, move meetings around, and keep on your guard. Things are much more dangerous outside of the cities, esp down south. It was exciting to hear how the work continues on the other side of the globe!

In our haste to get home we have had several diversions- we left Josiah back in the hospital - he has had a fever for 12 days and despite some medicine wasn't gettting better. We are trying to call to see how he is - please remember him. His family is with him so that's the good news. I made it back to Ohio but just barely. Our flight back home was delayed in Newark and we had to RUN for our connection. I ran like a kook only to find the flight had been moved 15 gates further down - that's about the time I burst into tears. I missed the final boarding but they squeezed me in - but Scott & Michael didn't make it, even though our plane sat on the tarmack for almost an hour. Very frustrating. They were READY to come home! Katie & Virginia also missed their connections so I told them to go to the desk and see when the next flight left- what a NIGHTMARE. Oh, and to make matters worse, most of our luggage didn't make it either! I will start calling in the morning to make sure everyone got home. Many from the yellow & blue teams also missed their flights. International travel - YIKES!!

Thanks for following our trip - we all learned so much about the country we visited, about each other, about ourselves - all the lyrics to Country Roads - how little we like pig fat as a steady diet - how much we loved having water buffalo on our property - how much we loved our Chinese buddy Charles - how much we love our family & friends, and how much we missed them - how much we love the good 'ole USA - how glad we are that Purell was invented - and how much "G" can use obedient people willing to GO! We will try to get some pictures downloaded so the friends from far away can see our adventures!

Our days here are winding down - we saw many great sites today! The highlight above ALL was the worship service at the fellowship - later I will post the site where you can check it out. We had GREAT worship time led by people from all over the world - Asia, Europe, America, Africa, and more - but only for foreigners - locals were not allowed in. That was hard for us. It was just like heaven - every tribe, every tongue, every nation, shouting praise. The highlight of our trip!!! The speaker was from... Philadelphia! We sang in a foreign language and realized, maybe for the first time, thatGod doesn't speak English! After weeks of whispering and making handmotions, the freedom was GREAT. Freedom we take for granted back home.
On a less serious note, we have discovered shopping, and bartering. I can't keep these people out of the market. Jeff & Stephanie are doing their best for the economy! We are swamped by vendors with all sorts of must-have items. John has been to the Hard Rock Cafe three times, well four counting tonight. He says he is exchanging shirts but I bet he is eating cheeseburgers! He & Sally & Kelly went to Pizza Hut tonight- and missed a "great" dumpling meal. Ha ha. Carol got a manicure - sounds like we are suffering right now doesn't it?? This is our reward time and we are happy to have it!
More news tomorrow then a LONG flight home - we are tired but excited and READY to come home. All the sick ones are better and no new cases so far! Ask for safe travel and an UNCOMPLICATED flight home - we are exhausted and don't really need storms or delays. By the way, I guess there have been all sorts of tsunamis and storms and earthquakes and none of that has remotely touched any of us or our camps so no worry! We are out of the news loop so we are not sure what has been going on in the world outside of camp songs and water buffalo and pigs and tongue twisters and karioke! Love to all- SEE YOU SOON! Don't forget us - we aren't home yet! Cindy & the TEAM!!

Big News- we've hit the big city! I call this "the fake world" because it is a land of marble and fake purses and Starbucks and westerners - we were welcomed by a Bob Marley reggae band at the Starbucks stage - hilarious! I have never seen Carol happier than holding her Diet Coke in her hand lovingly, happily, clutching it to her chest - the best Diet Coke she has ever had - LOL - even if it cost her $2.50 it was well worth it. We had hamburgers and pizza - some went to the Hard Rock Cafe - the Subway restaurantwas welcomed by many! Surely tomorrow we will regret it, but for tonight, no more pig paw! "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree??" All the sick ones were mysteriosuly cured once we pulled out of the camp - all are well, happy, rested, excited, and THANKFUL! Tomorrow is the service at the Fellowship - after weeks of whispering and hand motions and eyes open, this is such a joyous day! Only when they check the passports at the door and keep the citizens out and only let the foreigners in does your heart break. Even though the rigors of camp are over and we are enjoying two days of rest and travel, we will be meeting some very important guests as well as leaving many supplies for the families who live in the city. Speaking of camp, good reports from every single one - great successful camps all over the country. AWESOME!! We left our camp today with heavy hearts - the kids had cried for two days and we were all worn out. Even little Peter- rotten, spoiled impish little Peter who drove us crazy all week cried and clung to the teachers. So sad. There was a teenage boy named Jackson who had a short leg, maybe 6 inches or more too short. Of course this affected his walking and he couldn't play sports with the other boys. He was from the very poor area and it was clear his life would be marked by his disability. I would love to find a way to get him some help. The poorer kids were great - literally plucked out of remote villages. They just flourished. I didn't cry at all until I said goodbye to Charles, our helper- then I burst into tears at the airport and cried like a baby. How do we fall in love with these people so quickly? And most we will never see again. Our eyes were opened to these sweet people in this very rural area. Remember the food we set out for the beggars at the dump? Itwas gone within minutes. I am so thankful we could leave them something. On a happier note, remember the "marchers" - the hundreds of little children doing military marches night and day? We had three glorious days without them - as we pulled out of camp our bus pulled over to let FIVE buses of marchers pull in - the cheering from our bus was a riot- we had been spared! We laughed and laughed at the picture when they pulled into camp - our hundred children sobbing and crying - WHAT KIND OF CAMP IS THIS??? Well, tomorrow is a LONG day of touring - ask for safe travel and good fellowship and sharing - and tomorrow is also our first WESTERN BREAKFAST - I think the Americans are sleeping by the dining room door to get in line for the cereal and eggs and toast - no rice broth or boiled bread or pig fat to be seen! Love to all - pictures should be coming! Cindy

Who knows what you are actually reading - I get to the computer whenever I can wrestle a chair (tonight only took me 3 trips and 14 mosquito bites to get on line!) then the internet eats half of what I send!
Today was graduation - and oh the tears - yes the Americans are crying with joy at the end of camp food while the students have FINALLY decided to start speaking English and enjoying their classes - they are sobbing over leaving their teachers. We have been flooded with gifts- our suitcases might not hold them all. The poorest boy in Mary Elizabeth & Donnamarie's class offered them stack of money today - probably his ice cream money for all of camp. They had a knock-down drag-out battle with him but fianlly took half the money he offered as a gift. We have university students driving an hour one way over an impossible road to buy our nightly snacks - and they flooded us with gifts as well. There are no bigger hearts nor sweeter people in the world.
The big burly PE teacher knocked on my door today and gave me a necklace - and he doesn't speak one word of English. So sweet. The food is knocking us out one by one - Mike, Sally, John, and Steven are down today. it seems to last a day or so and then we are back on our feet. I think I have the equation... exhaustion + heat + peppers + 500 children a day + wind-y village roads + 2 weeks away from home + constant translating + little food = weird asian sickness. We are headed to the big city tomorrow so there is a great hospital there - as well as a McDonalds :-) Don't worry - everything is minor and we can call home soon. Continue to ask for safe travel - you would NOT believe some of the trips we have taken! All of the big-wigs came to graduation today and are THRILLED with our camp - they want us all to come back next year. I didn't mention that to those with their heads in the toilet...
We had a special time today looking out over the mountains and asking that the seeds left behind be watered and harvested and that the HS take up residence in this place. Several helpers had many questions and some great relationships were formed. We know we have made an impact and that is great. I think I need to hand over my computer now so I will write more tomorrow. Oh, one more thing. On the outskirts of our camp is a small village- I am talking "killing fields" rice paddy water buffalo village - there is a dump right outside our large hotel where the residents of the village forage for food. Talk about humbled - here we are complaining about the food and buying noodles at the store while this little granny and a small girl about 8 years old pick through the trash with the wild dogs looking for food. Wow. Hard to process all of these things but we are better people for seeing them. Paul & Gay & Kim & Rosalee head to another camp tomorrow- we can't imagine!! We have several days of R & R - though truly not much of either but a change anyway. We will be home soon - everyone is doing GREAT but ready to come home! We will see you shortly - don't forget us! Hugs, Cindy

Our supervisor came in to report on the other camps - he sends a good report from everyone. He has been meeting with "people" all over and has many exciting stories we will share later. He met up with Jimmy & Jamal and the OSU bunch - they spent 4 days in a teaching session in a small room with no windows- the work is amazing. He said not one complaint from those kids in harsh conditions - he is so encouraged by them. Today they start a 2-day camp with 180 kids in the blazing heat - but they are doing well. Tomorrow is the last day of class - we have asked for every opportunity to complete the work assigned to us this week- ask the same for us. We have been REMARKABLY free of illness and dissention- we have had an awesome camp. Some minor illnesses and a frustration or two but we are coming home very humbled and thankful - we have learned a lot. We are in a very poor area and everyday life is so hard. We are more thankful than ever. We have one more day of class then a busy graduation day - Saturday will be another travel day but then more travel. More rest, western food, but still busy, tired, overwhelmed. Gail mentioned it is hard to process all we are seeing and experiencing - we have a years' worth of new stuff every day. Living with a water buffalo outside your window is a new thing :-) Again,we are doing well - keep up the good work. We can tell you are speaking on our behalf and we are thankful. We are ready to come home I think but this is a tough bunch - always ready for more work as needed. One servant after the next.

Once we get to the bigger city my Blackberry should work so I will be more accessible and we hope to post some pictures. Hugs to all - we are well - have a Big Mac for us while we endure one more day of peppers and pig fat!

TOUR DAY! Our hosts thought we needed a rest so we rode around in a hot bus from 7:30 am until 10 pm - lol! We went to an old village and a monkey park - though at times we thought WE were the monkeys - few foreigners in these parts so we were quite the attraction. The trip found our bus barrelling down a road filled with water buffalo, chickens, people, motorcycles and more - the best part was barging through a small town's morning market, our bus speeding past the villagers with their baskets of rice and meat and goods. Cathy Case & I held hands and screamed many times. We had a wonderful lunch of pig paw (no lie) and used squatties all day. We ended the day with a trip to KFC and Walmart - believe it or not! More later!


Cindy

Yikes - hard to get a computer but here's the latest:
*Still hot, monsoon yesterday
*Everyone well - very small bouts of illness, nothing big
*Thanks for lifting us up - we sang "You Lift Me Up" in music class & it was a very powerful moment- we could tell our family back home was hard at work
*Soccer: USA 5, Other Team, 2 - woo hoo - and they even cheated! This HUGE guy we'd never seen reffed the first half then played the second! Our team was several legitimate soccer players, two AWESOME moms (ME & Cathy) and anyone else we could bribe to play - Nathan twisted his ankle (he's fine!) and was nursed by a bevy of teenage girls! - even Scott played a few minutes much to his dad's delight
*The water buffalo continue to graze the playing field
*The power was out in the hotel all day yesterday - no elevator, no a/c, no lights - ha!
*Our food is very... gelatinous... which means it wiggles... and SPICY! I had 4 cubes of cucumber today for lunch - oh, and a bottle of water. We call it our little diet plan...
*The classes are awesome - the kids are "getting it" and the teachers have a little schedule going
*Tomorrow is a "rest day" - we go to an ethnic village and a park - with MONKEYS - I am trying to arrange a SURPRISE pizza party at Pizza Hut tomorrow night - we'll see if I am successful
*SORRY to be so sporadic in writing - sometimes the "guy" is asleep, sometimes the seats are full of little boys playing video games, one day there was a terrible storm, one day no electricity - and of course, still no letters on the keyboard!
Love to all- Cindy

Guess who just called me on my foreign phone... JAMAL! He was in a bus station and it was very loud but I literally screamed when I heard his voice! They are all doing well - healthy and amazed and HOT but great - so exciting! The other teams are doing well - some heat, some sickness but nothing major. Our camp is going well - I was called down to the principal's office expecting to be reprimanded and he told us we are the nicest foreign teachers he has ever met - that's a good sign! The teachers are HOT and tired but are getting along well with the students - the pace is fast but we know our time is limited so we want to do a good job! Tonight is the famous birthday party which starts out as an innocent games of musical chairs & ends as a monstrous cake fight! Our hosts are afraid we are not eating enough (duh...) so last night they appreared at our door with weird asceptic lukewarm milk and WONDERFUL bread- we all called it manna- quite a gift! Lift us up as we deal with the pigs and the heat and the constant noise & chaos and look for open doors. Well, I have a keyboard with letters this time but I had to remove a small boy who is standing at my shoulder as I type so I better let him back to his video game! Hugs to all, Cindy
Cindy

NewLife-CTeam

Here's another one - still no letters on the keyboard, but no flies!! Another day, another pepper- the food is full of peppers; well, peppers and pig skin and chicken feet and fried sardines, innards and all. Interesting, to put it mildly! A few are down with Mao's Revenge so lift them up - but nothing severe at all. Our classes are in full swing - about 12-15 children per class - much younger than we had hoped, many beginners - but all precious. Our helpers are college students - very overworked but sweet and helpful. Miraculously (ha ha!), the "severed power line" has been repaired so we have air conditioning at night - still no towels, but at least we can sleep! We are at a hotel on a huge sports property with literally hundreds (and hundreds!) of other children- we are "on" from morning to night even just walking back & forth. They have been having big (LOUD) parties at night with children singing karioke to a blaring bass speaker- need I say more! It has been as late as 10:30 at night and then they begin marching at 6 am -thankfully the air conditoning will allow us to close the window!! The team is OUTSTANDING! Mike Fancher is going whereever I go from now on - he can translate the temperature and fix all the electrical things - and he plays a mean game of UNO!! We learned the macarena today & the kids are singing "On Top Of Spaghetti" tonight - hilarious! The teens & college kids are great and even us old folks are doing well. We had sports time in the water buffalo fields - and yes, we watched our steps. We have had some interesting questions and hope to make some progress with some of the nationals. For those of you who remember last summer, our helper this year is GREAT - he sings and jokes and lives to help us - what an answer!! Our activities have been going well - the teachers have gone overboard. They are all keepng the homesickness in check - ME is doing GREAT :) Except when the kids sing "Country Roads" and we all miss our homes & families! And ice... and nice beds... and freedom... We are doing well - it is hot and the food is... well, - I saw a butchered hog sitting outside the kitchen today in the bed of a truck , so... - and the keyboard still has no letters - and the constant 5 million small children is taxing but we consider it a privilege to serve. We have a morning meeting and look at the word and spend some time being thankful so we are doing well! Love to all- keep up the good work on your end. We need strength, food, health, patience, wisdom, and OPEN DOORS!!!!! Cindy & the Cteam

Hello Friends & Family!! After 30+ hours of NON-STOP travel, alternating between hours of sitting in a cramped airline seat and running through airports with millions of bags, and ending with a death-defying bus ride through the mountains, we landed at our camp. Yes, there really are water buffalo and we'll have the pictures to prove it! We delivered our VERY IMPORTANT PACKAGES first thing, effortlessly - THANKS for thinking of us!
Our camp is in a very pretty area, very green and breezy and rural. The hotel has "issues" like no a/c & no towels and 500 children at sports camp who march and sing outside our windows, at 6 am!! Camp starts tomorrow-the teachers are all GREAT-we have an awesome team-nothing but good reports so far. Think about us and the people we will meet. Our students are mostly young and very poor so we are happy to be here. Many of our "helpers" wear special jewelry, if you get my drift, so that may be interesting for us.

Well, all for now-and here is why-I am sitting in an internet cafe with teenage boys playing war games, the screens are all in another language, there are NO LETTERS ON THE KEYBAORD-and there are flies/gnats/malaria-ridden mosquitos swarming me and the screen right now-YUCK!! Love to all!!!
We are doing GREAT-keep up your end of the bargain!!!
Love, Cindy